Gigi Gigiadze, senior researcher at the Economic Policy Research Center, on Friday warned that the political and diplomatic consequences for the ruling Georgian Dream party would “intensify significantly” once the US MEGOBARI Act came into force.
Speaking on the current state of Georgia’s relations with Western partners, Gigiadze said that the process of political accountability had already begun and was expected to expand in both scope and severity.
“Our American partners have a very clearly formed and precise vision of what is happening in Georgia today,” Gigiadze said. “Not only in America – there are also developments in the United Kingdom, which already imposed sanctions on two Georgian judges”, the former diplomat said.
He further noted recent international actions had signaled a “broader trend of delegitimizing” the current Georgian government and dismissed any notion that the ruling party could repair relations with the new US administration and return to previous norms.
“This is not so, of course,” he noted, referencing initial reactions from Washington. “We have already heard the first comment, which was clear and specific – it is impossible to talk about democracy when you harass and detain your opponents.”
The MEGOBARI Act, a proposed piece of US legislation that targets individuals undermining democratic processes in Georgia, is expected to trigger further sanctions and restrictions. Gigiadze emphasized that members of the Georgian Dream party should prepare for increasingly serious repercussions.
“They will have to face very serious consequences,” he said. “The process that has begun will continue in a much more serious form and will take on much larger forms after the Act comes into force,” he claimed.
The legislation has been widely discussed in Western diplomatic circles as a response to what critics describe as a crackdown on political opposition and judicial independence in Georgia.
